Alright, as you can see, there were a number of shows, so let’s get this started properly. The first show that I went to on this weekend was the Idiot Glee. I was, personally, very excited for this show. Paddywhack hasn’t left the rotation in my household since I got my hands on it. While I initially wondered how he would make all of the sounds on stage, I watched the video that I posted with my review then found out he did it all himself. This will come to backfire both in my and Friley’s face, but let me loop around. I got there during the middle of Alex Body’s set. Dude’s wearing a cape pretty regularly now, but the music still rips and is creeped out pop at its best. There is definitely no lack of quality there. Once he finished up, a dude with a long beard walked up on stage.

Declaring himself the Palmetto Moon Electronic Group from South Carolina (which I should have figured out from the Palmetto thing, but I will let slide), that long bearded fellow took a seat. With his legs crossed and a minimum of visible interest in what he was doing, PMEG just started kicking out really gross, sick sounds out of his “magic box of electronics.” I only use the word magic here because I have no idea of what it actually was; it did look cool. After he leveled off from the ill square waves he was throwing, his set was actually pretty good if not slightly too brutal. If it could have used one thing, it would have been a visual display because it was super boring to watch him just sit around and twist knobs. My friends and I were all on the same wavelength that it should be some sort of horrific crash/accident that was super slowed down for dramatic effect. If he’s reading this, seriously, slow NASCAR wrecks. Slow NASCAR wrecks.

Following a slight break (this show was a brisk one), Idiot Glee walked up onto the stage. He quietly introduced himself then moved right into “Trouble in the Dancehall.” From this song forward, he struggled with the same problem: his vocals were considerably lower than his electronics. While this certainly added to his chillwave-ness, it was clear that he was troubled by this as he would adjust his microphone while singing into it. I found myself laughing inside because I’ve had the same thing happening to me during a show, so I understood how much it sucked. Although he could work through this problem, there was a terrible short somewhere in his circuit, one that I clearly heard and that bothered him. After only maybe 5 songs or so, Friley called it quits rather abruptly (there was no notice of the last song coming). The frustration with the electronics led him to cut a perfectly good set short. This was a huge disappointment to the audience who was pretty into what he was doing. If he comes back again, I hope he has his electronic situation better sorted out and just play on. Also, I hope he isn’t doing this as a habit because I would like to see him actually succeed and get some significant press for his music.

I can’t be disappointed with traveling artists though since they are prone to be human like the rest of us, making mistakes and having things fail on them regularly. The last guy, Radio People, got up on stage after Idiot Glee finished up. Using a visual that no one could make out if they tried, he just really went for it with his body and his music. His sound was like listening to Cocoon but with more drive. It would fit in that sort of Jan Hammer camp of pretty instrumental, kind of kraut-ish music. While I found the music acceptable, what really sealed his set for me was the thrashing about. Imagine in your mind if you will a dude thrashing around to “Crockett’s Theme.” Hopefully, you now understand the brilliance that was Radio People. By the end of the night, I probably would see everyone again. There wasn’t anything that I would put on the all-time reminder list, but all of them will spark the following thought in my mind: “hey, didn’t you see them before? weren’t they pretty good?”. I only think in lowercase letters.

While I was at the Idiot Glee show, I ran into Josh who told me that Solid Attitude was playing the last show at the Birdcage. Since I had gone to one of the first shows at the Birdcage, I felt it would only be appropriate if I went to the last show at the Birdcage, not to mention the fact that I love listening to Solid Attitude. As always, those four dudes ripped it like only they can. If there is one thing that I could complain about, it’s that they need more songs, but that’s only relevant because I’ve seen them about 3 or 4 times in about 2 months. In short, I see them too often. I can’t help it though. Apparently, their show was a part of a larger show with The Boxknifes and a band from points east. I would have liked to have seen the entire thing, but that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

This isn’t the end of the shows though. There is one more that I’m going to deal with in another post.